Patrick Mason, “Approaches to Mormonism”

The second half of the twentieth century and early years of the twenty-first witnessed a remarkable explosion of scholarly works on Mormonism.  While the breadth and depth of this literature can hardly be touched in a single semester, this course will introduce students to representative approaches used by scholars in the academic (non-polemical, non-apologetic) study of Mormonism, thus serving as something of a historiographical introduction to some of the best and newest literature in the field of Mormon studies.  Students will read exemplary works representing various disciplinary and methodological approaches to Mormonism, and in the process will be encouraged to consider ways that Mormon studies has been shaped by, and can potentially shape, other established academic fields and disciplines.

This course asks questions such as whether there exists a Mormon studies canon, where the gaps and blind spots in the extant literature are, and what the future of Mormon studies might hold.  In surveying the field students will be invited to join the conversation and help envision ways to advance it as both teachers and researchers.